Copyholder mechanism



April 15, 1941. c, WELTER 2,238,354

com-101mm uhcmuzsm Original Filed Aug. 8, 1938 3 Sheois-Sheet 1 1 I g 516 A INVENTOR April 15, 1941. c, WELTEIR 2,238,354

councilman MECHANISM ori in-a1 Filed Aug. 8, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 7 6|:IE5 4.- I 7 April 15, 1941. H. c. WELTER 2,238,354

COPYHOLDER MECHANISM Original Filed Aug. 8, 195a s Sheets-Sheet aINVENTOR Patented Apr. 15, 1941 COPYHOLDER lVIECHANISM Herman C. Welter,Rochester, N. Y., assignor to The Dawn Mfg. C'orp., Rochester, N. Y., acorporation of New York Original application August 8, 1938, Serial No.

Divided and this application Januar 12, 1939, Serial No. 250,586

4 Claims.

My present invention relates to copyholders that are used to facilitatethe reading and transscribing of notes and writings and particularlycop-yholders of the type designed to be set behind typewriters andadapted to be-operated as to line indications conveniently from near thekeyboard of the machine, and it has for its object to provide a simple,quiet and efficient device of this kind. The improvements are directedin part toward providing the type of fixed 10 line indicator and movablecopy plate machine with means whereby the copyholder may be picked upand manipulated by means of its copy plate without movement relativelyto its support and the actuating mechanism thereon, andl towardproviding a novel elevating means that will function indefinitelywithout perceptible wear.

To these and other ends, the invention resides A in certain improvementsand combinations ofzo parts, all as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the endof this specification.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a copyholder con-'' structed inaccordance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention with thecopy plate thereof in a partially raised position;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view, much enlarged, and showing the operatingmeans in folded position in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical'central section of the upper portion ofthe copy plate and its standard, taken substantially on the line 3-3 ofFig. 2 and on the same scale;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation on the scale of Fig. 2 partly broken away andwith the cover plate on a portion of the standard removed to revealinterior parts; 7

Fig. 5 is a further enlarged fragmentary sec-" tional detail on the line5-5 of Fig. 1 and showing features of the connection of the elevatingmeans to the copy plate;

Fig. 6 is a detail view partly broken away of a clutch element similarlyappearingin Fig. 4;

Fig. '7 is a further enlarged detail perspective of an element involvedin the aforesaid attachment of the elevating member;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged'detail of the pawl spring shown in Fig. 4, and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged perspective view with adjacent parts broken awayof the copy plate elevating tape and its winding drum.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate thesame parts.

' with its curled semi-cylindrical margins 5.

its top it carries a suitable spring pressed paper (Cl. mil-29) Thisapplication is a division of my copending application, Serial No.223,598, filed August 8, 1938, matured into Patent No. 2,171,261, datedAug. 29, 1939,' wherein certain features of necessity partiallyillustrated and described herein are more fully set forth and claimedthere.

'Although all of my present improvements are not necessarily limited tocopyholders of the fixed line indicator and movable copy type, I haveillustrated an embodiment of this character and will first outline itsgeneral construction and mode of operation so that the improvements Ihave made thereon will be more readily un-,

derstood. Referring more particularly to the drawings and first to Figs.1, 2 and 4 thereof, l indicates the base of an upright standardembodying rigid guide rods 2 at the sides connected at their upper endsin fixed relationship by a cross head plate 3. A vertically movable copyplate 4 slides on these guides which it engages At clamp 6 for holdingthe pages of the copy on the plate, which clamp is in the form of a wirebail mounted in bearing housings I on lateral extensions of the plate.The top edge of the latter is spanned by a helical spring 8 of slightcarried by the axle.

tension to retain beneath it the pages as they are turned back. At therear of the machine a transverse shaft 9 mounted-in bearings 10 on thelower portion of the cross plate 3 carries jointed arms H which in turnsupport a swinging line indicator I2 that may be thus adjusted towardand from the copy plate for thickness of copy and up and down the facethereof accordingly as the writings are placed high or low on the copysheet. I

Means are provided for raising the copy plate with a step-by-stepmovement past the line indicator until at its limit of movement or atany desired intermediate point it is released to fall by gravity to anextreme low position on the base I. In the present instance, this meansembodies a central narrow vertical housing I3 fixed at its lower end tothe base I and at its upper end to the cross plate 3. Adjacent its lowerend and partially protruding into this housing is a winding drum Hi, theperiphery of which a central narrow winding surface flanked byconverging or generally V-shaped flanges. The drum turns on an axle itsupported on brackets 16 on the base and has a cavity I! on its rearside to house a suitable counterbalancing spring (not shown) whichhousing is closed by a fixed cover plate It The rear of housing 13 isalso closed by a cover plate I9 completing the well for the tapeappearing in Figs. 2 and 3.

.At the top of this well or housing is a small pulley on a stud 2Iprojecting rearwardly from the fixed cross plate 3 and whichincidentally constitutes the means for securing the top of the housingin fixed position. A two-piece tape 22-23, about which more will be saidlater, is connected at one end to a stud 24 at the bottom margin of thecopy plate and passes thence upwardly over pulley 20 and downwardlyaround winding drum I4. A slot 25 in housing plate I3 admits the stud tothe housing or well in which the tape is confined. It will thus be seenthat, as the drum I4 is rotated in a clockwise direction (as viewed fromthe rear) it will raise the copy plate, and, when released, will allowthe copy plate to fall by gravity.

As a matter of fact, the copy plate when so released for downward returndoes not reach the base I close enough to strike it. On the other hand,it is halted just out of contact by pairs of cooperating rubber buffers26 and 21 at each side, one of which is clamped to the top of the guide5 and the other of which is secured to the top of the guide rod 2, asprin 28 being also carried by the firstmentioned buifer to furtheravoid noisy and wearing impact and to protect the screw head shown asholding the other buffer of the couple.

The immediate actuating means for transmitting step-by-step rotation tothe drum I 4 is a wheel 29 having slightly converging side walls at theperiphery that jam between the flanges of the wheel I4 only sufficientlytoestablish driving frictional contact. The wheel is fixed on a shaft 30(Fig. 4) which, through intermediate connections, is turned by a handknob 3| arranged for- I wardly beside the keyboard of the typewriter.

Fitting into an annular groove within the rear face of wheel 29 is ahousing 32, best shown in Figs. 4 and 6, which housing constitutes theball race of a one-way ball clutch of familiar type. An element 33 onthe shaft 39 forms tapered pockets with the ball race so that the springpressed balls shown will jam against the race when the shaft is turnedin one direction establishing the clutch connection and release when theshaft is turned in the other direction in a well known manner.

An extension on the clutch housing 32 is pivotedat 34 near the peripheryof the wheel 29 to a bell crank arm 35, the other end of which ispivoted on the axle I5. Substantially on the dead center between thelatter and shaft 30 is an extension spring 36 connected at one end to alug on the arm and at the other to a lug on the housing 32. The bearing31 of shaft 30 (Fig. 2) is carried by an upright bearing bracket 38(Fig. 4) hinged at 39 at a low point on the base I so that it may swinglaterally toward and from the base. Through this means the spring 36holds the otherwise floating operating wheel 29 in operative frictionalengagement with the drum I4 and as the hand knob 3! at the front isturned clockwise (as viewed from the front) this relationship will bemaintained and the wheel positively driven because the ball clutch isfree to turn within the housing 32. The drum will hence turn in acounter-clockwise direction (also from the front) and the tape 23 willbe wound thereon and the copy plate raised. When, however, the knob 3Iis reversed, the ball clutch will lock the shaft 30 and wheel 29, byreason of the ball clutch, to the housing 32. The off-center pivot 34thereof will then react against the unyielding arm 35 and throw thehousing, shaft and wheel outwardly on the hinge center 39 against thetension of spring 36 so that drum I 4 is released from the wheel. Thecopy plate will fall by gravity, unwinding the tape from the drum. Whenthe hand operation is released, all parts restore themselves to normaloperative position through the action of spring 36.

y The bearing bracket 38 extends only slightly forwardly of the base Iof the standard and is there hinged at 40 on a vertical axis and on theinside to a relatively long normally forwardly extending side arm whichis concealed by other parts in Figs. 1 and 2 but which embodies aforward leg 46 for support upon the desk or table. On the side arm issupported a, bearing 49 for the hand wheel or knob 3I and otheroperating mechanism including an extension shaft 59 that connects up thehand knob to operate shaft 30, but these arrangements specificallyrelate to the invention of my abovementioned copending application andrequire no further description here.

The foregoing acquaints the reader with the general subject matter. Ishall now proceed to describe the specific improvements that my presentinvention involves.

Attention is now directed to the figures more particularly illustrativeof the elevating tape 22-23. The metal portion 23 thereof is a very thinnarrow ribbon which winds and unwinds on the drum I4 with facility andwithout appreciable wear because of the large diameter. The.top pulley20, however, is necessarily very small causing such an abrupt bending ofthe metal strip that with constant use the latter becomes fatigued andis apt to crystallize and break. It is for this reason that I make thetape in two parts, the part 22 that works on roller 20 being a strongwoven textile which will run on the roll indefinitely without showingappreciable wear. The two are connected together by a link 11 engagingin loops on the two ends but this splice never reaches either pulley. I

The lower end of tape 22 is connected to the lower portion of the copyplate 4 through the medium of a stop pawl I8, as clearly shown in Figs.4 and 9, which pawl is pivoted on the beforementioned stud24. Theadjacent side wall of the wheel housing I3 is provided with a series ofstop openings I9 punched therefrom in the nature of a rack. When thetape is under winding tension, a tooth 89 on pawl 79, which latter isthereby straightened out, runs free of the stops I9 but if the operatorgrasps the top of the copy plate to pick the machine up thereby, as itis very natural to do, a slack will occur in the elevating tape allowingthe spring 8| to throw the tooth BI] into locking engagement with thenext adjacent stop so that the copy plate raises the whole machinethrough the medium of the pawl.

The said spring 8| is shown in enlarged detail in Figs. '7 and 8 toillustrate the mode of attaching it. A nut 82 on the stud 24 thatconfines the pawl is provided with a kerf 83 that runs down intointersection with the cooperating threads of the nut and stud. Thestraight wire spring is lodged in the bottom of this kerf to lock thenut on the stud and is maintained thereby pinching together the walls ofthe kerf. In this way the spring is rigidly mounted in a convenientmanner and at the same time performs the locking function. Its lower endis turned out angularly in the kerf to prevent rotation on itslongitudinal axis and consequent disengagement from the pawl.

An elevating mechanism constructed in accordance with my invention issimple and inexpensive to manufacture, is silent in operation andcapable of use for a long period without deterioration or servicing.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a copyholder, the combination with a standard having verticalguides, a line indicator on the standard, and a copy plate adapted to beraised and lowered on the guides relatively to the line indicator, ofelevating means for the copy plate whereby it may be raised by astep-by-step motion and lowered by gravity, and means for automaticallyinterlocking the copy plate with a fixed portion of the standard whenthe whole machine is raised from its support by a grip upon the copyplate alone.

2. In a copyholder, the combination with a standard having verticalguides and also having an element fixedly secured thereto, a lineindicator on the standard, and a copy plate adapted to be raised andlowered on the guides relatively to the line indicator, of elevatingmeans for the copy plate whereby it may be raised by a stepby-stepmotion and lowered by gravity, and a pawl movable with the copy plateand adapted to interlock with the fixed element on the standard when thecopy plate is raised by other than the said elevating means.

3. In a copyholder, the combination with a standard having verticalguides, a line indicator on the standard, and a copy plate adapted to beraised and lowered on the guides relatively to the line indicator, ofelevating means for the copy plate whereby it may be raised by astep-by-step motion and lowered by gravity and embodying the followinginstrumentalities: a winding means on the base of the standard, a pulleyat the top of the standard, a tape running over said pulley and havingone end attached to the bottom of the copy plate and the other end woundupon the winding means, a pawl connected to the tape and a series ofstops on the standard with one or another of which the pawl is adaptedto engage to lock the copy plate against upward movement when the sameis induced upwardly by other than the elevating means aforesaid.

4. In a copyholder, the combination with a standard having verticalguides, a line indicator on the standard, a copy plate adapted to beraised and lowered on the guides relatively to the line indicator, and avertical rack on the standard, of elevating means for the copy platewhereby it may be raised by a step-by-step motion and lowered bygravity, and'embodying the following instrumentalities: a winding meanson the base of the standard, a pulley at the top of the standard, a pawlpivoted on the bottom of the copy plate, a tape running over said pulleyand connected to the copy plate through the medium of the pawl, theother end of the tape being connected to the winding means, and a seriesof stops on the standard with one or another of which the pawl isadapted to engage to lock the copy plate against upward movement whenthe normally taut tape is slacked.

HERMAN C. WELTER.

